Reviews

Though she did record one subsequent, posthumously released album, 1958’s Lady in Satin has long been considered Billie Holiday’s exit music. Its musical worth remains heatedly debated, one camp insisting it ranks among her best work, another decrying Holiday’s...

Brian Lynch met Emmet Cohen in 2011 when he began teaching at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where Cohen was an undergraduate. Three tracks on this album, all standards, are trumpet/piano duos. Six tracks, all originals, add Boris...

Tribute albums are a tricky business. What, one must invariably ask, is the intent? To replicate the sound of the honoree? To echo his or her style? Or just to cover a slate of associated songs? Intentionally or not, in this case it is the lattermost. Vocalist...

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, a band that has altered its lineup many times over its 20 years and 25 albums, is down to a trio for its 26th—keyboardist Brian Haas, guitarist Chris Combs and drummer Josh Raymer. At this point it is clear that these guys are making...

Listening to Julie Kelly, it’s hard not to be reminded of her fellow West Coaster Rebecca Kilgore. Kelly, whose recording career enters its third decade with Happy to Be , her eighth release, shares Kilgore’s crystal-clear phrasing, her effortless way with...

Inspiration can’t really be classified as a vanity project, since its impresario, Jason Jackson, is neither a household name nor particularly interested in becoming one. But Jackson composed five of its 10 songs, arranged six of them, performed trombone...

Tamarindo is a power trio that takes its time, conserving space and making sagacious use of its outsized collective talent. Tony Malaby sustains oblong notes and deploys silence as well as any saxophonist this side of Roscoe Mitchell, and is fond of building...

Since his debut as a leader, 2007’s The Timeless Now , saxophonist Dayna Stephens has surrounded himself with exceptional players, and his good taste continues on Peace , his fifth album. Joining Stephens here are pianist Brad Mehldau, guitarist Julian Lage...

Producer Joe Fields has always been a fine developer of jazz talent. But his greatest gift may be in crafting career renaissances for established yet stalled artists. He did it with Mark Murphy in the 1970s and ’80s, shaping a string of masterpieces for...

Is too much of a good thing still a good thing? That is the question posed by Pride , a two-hour-plus, double-disc release from the Michael Musillami Trio that presents the equivalent of two complete LPs plus a bonus EP. Disc one finds the Connecticut-based...